Relationships between racialized groups and major security and intelligence agencies in Canada – such as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) – are diminished by lack of confidence, ending with an external report prepared for the federal government.
We often hear about the lack of trust between the country’s national security institutions and Canadians, and especially among Canadians of race., says the report compiled by the Advisory Group on National Security Transparency (GCT-SN). This independent and external body was created in 2019 to advise the Deputy Minister of Public Safety and the national security and intelligence community.
These relationships are sometimes marred by mistrust and suspicion, as well as by errors of judgment on the part of these institutions, which are perceived by the communities concerned as discrimination..
Consisting of 10 members from the legal, civil society and national security communities, the GCT-SN warns that the emergence of artificial intelligence poses a threat to racial communities.
Systematic biases in the design of artificial intelligence (AI) can have a detrimental effect on vulnerable individuals or groups of individuals, including racial communities.they found.
These biases reflect not only the particular flaws of education programsAI and organizations that use them, but also the underlying divisions of society and inequality that are then amplified and possibly deepened.
A longer commitment is needed
The report, released earlier this week, urges security and intelligence agencies to communicate better with racial communities.
In practice, civil servants rarely listen to stakeholders, too often shifting their responsibilities to prepared messages.We remember.
Constructive communication should instead be based on dialogue; officers should listen to stakeholders ’questions and concerns, and be prepared and willing to respond to them.
The report also calls on intelligence agencies such as CSIS continue to engage with racial communities – and not just in times of crisis.
The authors featured contacts of CSIS with the Iranian-Canadian community after the crash of flight PS752 in January 2020 and with the Muslim community in March after the attack on a mosque in Mississauga, Ontario.
Although important, these contacts were motivated by specific incidents. In our opinion, the CSIS fail to build lasting trust in racial communities as long as its interaction is primarily reactivesays the report.
The CSIS wants to change this situation
The CSIS identified the issues the report featured in a statement on Friday.
We know that the voices of racialized communities and Indigenous peoples have not been heard as clearly as they should in conversations about policy, legislative and operational deliberations on national security issues.wrote the agency, saying it was determined to do so change this situation.
The CSIS promised to publish more details of its engagement programs in its annual reports.
Spy agency director David Vigneault admitted in 2020 that the CSIS there was also an internal problem with racism.
Yes, systematic racism exists here, and yes there is a level of harassment and fear of retaliation within the organization.he said, according to the transcript of a meeting in 2020.
The agency said it is reviewing the artificial intelligence section of the report and has paid attention to guiding principles and conclusions of the report. Other agencies involved in the report have not yet commented on its findings.
Source: Radio-Canada
